How AI Could Help Address CA's Worsening Wildfire Seasons: Report

The future of California firefighting could someday happen without the deployment of humans. And that someday could be arriving sooner than we think, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The autonomous Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopter can use alerts from a satellite dish and sensors to locate a wildfire. Once it tracks the fire, its artificial intelligence forms a plan of attack.

Once it locates a fire, it drops a load of water over the flames, intending to never let a fire grow larger than 10 square feet.

The Black Hawk, designed by Lockheed Martin and a California-based software company called Rain, is among the most advanced technologies developed for fighting fires in California — and it doesn't require putting any human lives at risk, the Times reported.

“The dream is the evolution of this,” Maxwell Brodie, Rain’s chief executive, told the. Times. “The dream is to be able to live in your neighborhood knowing that there is protection from catastrophic high-intensity fire, and to feel safe. And I think that if we look hard at what is likely coming over the decades ahead, there’s no time to waste.”

Once its creators work out the remaining kinks, the Black Hawk could become a vital tool in Cal Fire’s quiver for combating California’s worsening climate crisis and wildfire seasons.

Read more from the Los Angeles Times: California’s wildfire moonshot: How new technology will defeat advancing flames

The number of wildfires sparking around the world could rise 30 percent by the end of 2050 — and 50 percent by 2100, according to a new report by UNEP and GRID-Arendal.

“Current government responses to wildfires are often putting money in the wrong place. Those emergency service workers and firefighters on the frontlines who are risking their lives to fight forest wildfires need to be supported”, said Inger Andersen, UNEP Executive Director. “We have to minimize the risk of extreme wildfires by being better prepared: invest more in fire risk reduction, work with local communities, and strengthen global commitment to fight climate change."

Just 8 months into 2025, some 354,878 arcres in California have burned and 31 people have died in wildfires, according to data from Cal Fire.